TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  1878
SUBJECT: GRB 030217: Optical Observations at 4, 5, and 6 Days
DATE:    03/02/25 16:26:25 GMT
FROM:    Stephen Holland at U. of Notre Dame  <sholland@nd.edu>

S. T. Holland, P. M. Garnavich (Notre Dame),
A. Hornstrup (Danish Space Research Institute),
Barbara Mochejska, K. Z. Stanek (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), and
H. Pedersen (Copenhagen) report

     We have obtained Rc-band images of most of the IPN error region
for GRB 030217 (GCN 1872) using the 2.56-meter Nordic Optical
Telescope on La Palma on 2003 Feb. 22 UT, and using the Fred Lawrence
Whipple Observatory 1.2m telescope on Mt Hopkins, Arizona on
2003 Feb. 20, 21 and 22 UT.  Our data cover approximately 80% of the
IPN error region and are centred on the centre of the error region.
No optical afterglow is visible in our images to the detection limit
of the second generation Digital Sky Survey.

     The galaxy LCRS B122355.6-113041 is located at R.A. = 12:26:30.91,
Dec. = -11:47:17.3 (J2000), which is just outside the northeast edge
of the IPN error region.  This galaxy has a magnitude of 17 and a
redshift of 0.14 (Shectman et al., 1996, ApJ, 470, 172).  We find no
evidence for a variable source in or near this galaxy, but we urge
observers with earlier data to check for a possible transient near
this location.


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